of us no better than a sort of edifying dream, when we read or hear of the first Christians; their continual prayer; their daily communion; their exact discipline of fasting, penitence, self-denial; their bestowing all their goods, many of them, on God's treasury: their extreme unwearied charity; their triumphant martyrdom? "Be not afraid; only believe" that all these things really were, and were for your example; think of them as of a pattern set in earnest before you by him who wills your perfection and happiness. Begin by being as exact and humble as those early believers were in the use of the means of grace; and who knows with what large measures of their grace he may bless you?

I speak more especially to those who have not yet stained their baptismal robe with any gross wilful sin, or habit of sinful indulgence. They of all others are to be encouraged to set before them the highest standard; not with self-complacent presumption, as though they were better than others, but in humble hope that in this way they shall most effectually secure themselves against the unclean spirit, who is always waiting to enter in and dwell there again. As for those who have fallen away, they must win their way to perfection through a course of hard and painful penitence, in proportion to the greatness of their fall; but let them not imagine that the way is shut against them: they may yet do great things, if they will not be afraid to deny themselves, if they will only believe that it is good for them to mind only their duty here, and wait for their comfort until they come to the other world.

You have seen in what instances of duty Christians seem generally most to need such a warning as that of our Lord to Jairus in the text; viz. in all those cases in which we are apt to say, "It is no use;" especially in our remembrance of the dead, in our judgment of others who seem to be very corrupt, and in our taking up with an imperfect standard for ourselves.

In conclusion, I would observe on the form which we commonly find this unchristian cowardice assuming. People's despair of a good cause, or of their own or

others' reformation, does not induce them, so often, avowedly to give it up altogether, as to make a sort of compromise with the powers of evil; going some way to meet them, in order, as we fancy, to hinder them from rushing violently on, and quite getting the better of us. Into this kind of snare, it would seem, no less a person than the blessed apostle St. Peter did at one time fall, when he refused to eat with the Gentile Christians, for fear of affronting the Jewish ones. The excuse seemed plausible, viz. that if he did not so accommodate himself to their prejudices, they would very likely take such offence as to fall back into Judaism again, and so throw themselves entirely away. How often, in these days, do we hear the same kind of argument used! A small sacrifice of principle, we are told, is worth making for the great good of the community; some improper liberties may be allowed for the edifica tion and salvation of Christian souls. Thus good persons argue, "We must go so far with the world, must encourage such and such amusements and pursuits, which we heartily disapprove of, else we shall never get the world to go any way with us.' Thus the children of the holy catholic church, not seldom openly and on principle, and without any pretence of necessity, encourage the sin of schism, by way of avoiding the greater sin of heathenish immorality and indifference. But surely in these and all other cases there must be some way of going right, without any wilful sin at all. God's hand is not waxed so short, that his servants should ever think it necessary to do the least evil, that the greatest good should come.

Let us then make up our minds to discard and renounce, once and for ever, the practice of putting off hard unpleasant duties, or shrinking back from charitable efforts where the case is unpromising, under pretence that it is of no use. Such a course is shrinking from the cross the moment we begin to feel it heavy, It is, in a word, contrary to the temper of martyrdom; and what more can a Christian desire to make him renounce it, as displeasing to Jesus Christ?

SERMON XIII.

ALL OUR DISTRESSES KNOWN TO GOD.

ST. MATTHEW vi. 32.

"For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things."

ONE great reason why people run into so great differences of opinion, and, of course, mistakes and errors, about religion, seems to be this-that they too often consider it themselves, and set it forth to others, in a partial way-not having patience (perhaps) to put things together, and to observe how the doctrines and rules of the gospel, like the links of a chain, depend one on another, and may not be separated without injury to the cause of truth.

Thus, for instance, as to anxiety, hope, or fear, of what may be coming on us on this side the grave, nothing can be plainer, nothing more decisive, than the rule which the blessed Jesus, with his own sacred lips, delivered, and which the Holy Spirit has recorded for the guidance and consolation of Christians in all ages; "Take no anxious thought for the morrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto each day is the evil thereof." This rule is certainly plain and decisive, and yet how do we neglect and forget it? I might say, what pains have men taken, men of business and men of learning, to explain away the doctrine more or less, to obtain excuses and allowances for care and anxiety, just as if they were desirable things, and what one would be sorry to part with.

Thus, it is not uncommon for people to say, or at least to think, that care and anxiety, however wrong

and unsuitable for a Christian in matters of less consequence, are nevertheless allowable, if not right and proper, when great troubles seem to be approaching; for instance, if poverty, ill health, or the loss of friends, or of character, is to be apprehended. In such cases it is supposed, that to think of being free from care and anxiety is a mere fancy, that to endeavor to take no thought for the morrow in such cases is rashness and presumptuousness on God's merciful providence, and shows rather a want of the common feelings of humanity, than a suitable submission to the Divine will-indeed, that it is of no use to say what people ought to do under such severe trials; for that they cannot help, even if they would, being very full of anxiety, very often of alarm, about what distresses may be coming on them.

Now, let us consider the thing temperately, and in a Christian way. People say, "it is natural, they cannot help being anxious and alarmed about approaching troubles." True, they cannot help it, if they look not beyond themselves and their own strength and re"We shall lose this, and we shall lose that; we shall be left destitute, helpless, friendless-nothing but misery and distress around us." Such is the voice of weak nature.

sources.

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But is weak nature the support, the guide, of a Christian? Have we not the voice of God himself assuring us, that if we keep quietly along the path of duty, all will come right at last? He has not forgotten us. He will lay upon us no more than he will enable us to bear, if we faithfully ask his aid. "Our heavenly Father knoweth that we have need of all these things." think proper to withhold them from any or all of us, what then-is it not lawful for him to do what he will with his own? and, besides, has he not repeatedly and positively assured us, that affliction and suffering in this present brief state are intended for our good, in that endless state to which we are passing?

It is not, however, my present purpose to speak of the benefits of affliction, great as they may be; but

only to press on your thoughts this one consideration, that, in every suffering of body or mind, the great eternal God knows and measures most exactly our afflictions, be they what they may, great or small. The doctrine was known of old to the psalmist, and was evidently a great and solid comfort to him. But it was most expressly declared by our Savior Christ himself: "Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." As much as to say, It is not that God is ignorant of man's distresses, or that, knowing them, he is indifferent about them; but he has good reasons for sending such and such afflictions, on such and such persons. If they are truly wise, they will take them, as sent by him, with constancy, penitence, and hope; if vain and self-willed, they will fret and disturb themselves with useless anxieties, and be in the end nothing the better for what their compassionate heavenly Father meant to be of the greatest good to them.

Suppose, now, the case of persons suffering under the great trial of extreme poverty. Let us suppose that a man has a large family dependant on him, that he can scarcely obtain half work, or, perhaps, not near so much even as that; let us suppose that he sees his children around him almost naked, and that to provide necessary food for them he has been obliged to part with articles of furniture almost as necessary; and, perhaps, in addition to all this, may have illness in his house-with little or no prospect to human eyes of things being much better, perhaps, for a long time to come.

Now, such a person, if he be a kind husband and father, it is difficult to estimate how much he must suffer -not so much for himself, as for those around him. And, perhaps, it may be thought absurd to advise such an one not to be full of care and anxiety-to take no thought for the morrow-for, of course, he must be anxious, and it is mere mockery to desire him not to

be so.

But, I ask, is not the voice of Jesus Christ expressly directed to a person under such a trial: "be not of